The introduction of UTME in 2010 comes with a lot of anxieties and excitements, many educationists were happy with the promises that accompany the introduction. In fact, many believe that relief has come – the way of admission policy in Nigeria. Many students welcome this development and belief it will address the problems that has plague admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
When UTME was introduced, it was said that it will address certain problems associated with admission into tertiary institutions. The maiden edition has come and gone. A careful look though reveal that UTME is just JAMB in disguise or could we say it is too early to judge? In this article, we will examine some of the promises that accompany the introduction of UTME and see what actually transpired.
Professor Dibu Ojerinde said the new policy that gave birth to UTME came as a result of attempts by the federal government and all concerned stakeholders in the education sector to solve the problem of access and the quality of entrants into tertiary institutions in Nigeria. According to him, academic calendars and entry requirements for all tertiary institutions will be harmonized. According to JAMB, the policy was adopted to address the problem of inadequate centers and infrastructure, over stressing of existing facilities among others. The question now is, was the objective policy realized?
Far form it! Let us examine these promises one by one and see what actually happened.
One Exam – Multiple Admission Opportunities:
Applicants for UTME are allowed to choose two each of Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education on order of their preference. According to JAMB, this arrangement will allow those who could not make it to Universities go for polytechnics and colleges. In order to make this attractive, the then Minister of Education Ruqqayatu Rufai said general cut off mark will be 180 for all tertiary institutions. JAMB even went as far as distributing those who score above 180 across various tertiary institutions; did things work out as planned? No!
Majority of candidates who could not make it to the university prefer to stay and wait till next year. There is also inconsistency in the admission offered by JAMB and universities. For instance, JAMB, offered admission to candidate A in AUCHI Poly. The same candidate sat for uniben post UTME and was admitted. Meanwhile, on Jamb site, what you have there is AUCHI poly. This inconsistency leaves many students confused. Does that mean any student that score 180 and above is automatically guaranteed admission in Poly & Colleges?
Apart from this inconsistency, post UTME screening is also a threat to this policy and that explains why many polytechnics and colleges have low patronage. Imagine where an applicant will write Post Utme Exam In six institutions. The cost of registration, preparation, traveling, feeding and accommodation is overwhelming. In fact some students find it difficult to write post UTME exam in two universities let alone six.
Uniform Cut – off for All Institutions
Minister of education, Ruqqayatu Rufai said general cut – off mark will be 180 and that they met with VCs, Rectors, & Provosts and discussed. JAMB registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde said institutions should ensure compliance with approved admission guidelines bearing in mind such criteria as merit, catchment areas, educationally less privilege state, quotas, carrying capacity and national cut-off mark. Did things work out as planned? NO!
Most universities especially the federal ones only invited candidates who scored 200 and above for their post UTME screening ignoring the said agreement by the minister. The question is who is deceiving who?
This means the 330,971 (representing 27%) who score between 180 199 were denied access to universities. By and large, universities still adopt the standard before the introduction of UTME. So there is nothing like national/uniform cut-off mark.
Admission for All Successful Candidates
When UTME was introduced, it was said that all successful candidates will secure admission. Prof. Dibu Ojerinde categorically said if University doesn’t work out, Polytechnic will, else College will work. Did this work out as planned? No!
Of the 1, 228,607 result released, 832,434 score 180 and above. So, this figure are supposed to be fixed into all tertiary institutions, however, JAMB declared that there is no space for 340,000 students, only 527,000 space available. Prof. Dibu Ojerinde who described the admission as survival of the fittest said “except access to tertiary institutions increased, we will continue to have lots of people waiting endlessly! Obviously like JAMB, UTME has failed to address the problem of access to tertiary institution.
Second Choice Institution Invalid
With the introduction of UTME, many believe that the idea of universities treating 2nd choice candidates with contempt will be addressed. However, experience show that just as it was under Jamb so it is now. In some cases it is even worse. Some universities sell their post UTME form to 2nd choice candidates and do not allow them to write the exam. But because of public cry they later allow them since they have no option but to conduct an exam for them.
Some other universities who allow them to write is yet to release their result months after releasing that of first choice candidates i.e. some of them attributed the delays to JAMB, that they are yet to receive the list of the candidates who put their institution as second choice. To many, the exam and the result that will follow is just a formality. Ahead of 2011 UTME application, it will be appropriate if JAMB can come up with the list of institutions who do not accept second choice candidates, better still, universities should treat both 1st and 2nd choice candidates equally.
Provision of Calculator to Curb Examination Malpractice
N100 out of the N 4600 used to register for UTME was set aside for the purchase of calculator for candidates. Survey however, shows that majority of the candidates do not use the calculator. In some cases, candidates even come with their electronic calculator. In fact statistics from JAMB show that some centers were marred with examination malpractice, some whose results were released were later canceled. Off course there are many other unknown cases. So, not much is achieved with the introduction of calculator much more like it was with JAMB.
The Website
Just like its predecessor, www.jamb.org.ng, the official website of UTME www.jambutme.com was a nightmare. In fact, at a time. The site almost collapse. Some of us think that the reformation will also affect the application website but we were wrong. Well, we sincerely hope that JAMB do something about their website so as to avoid the problems associated with its inconsistency. Apart form application, checking of the result was also a problem. Candidates were unable to check for many days.
Result Valid for Two Admission Session
We heard it then that UTME result will be valid for 2 sessions. Especially for those who were not offered an admission. Time will tell if this will be true. But since all other promise or policy did not work out, one can predict too that it is also a false promise.
From the foregoing, it is obvious that UTME is much more the same as JAMB. In Fact, it is still a misery to us who is authorized to enforce policies of UTME. The NUC seems to be a toothless dog when it comes to enforcing the policies they implemented. In fact, there is a missing link here! Who is supposed to implement the policies of UTME? Is it the NUC, Ministry of Education, the Legislature or who?
It is disturbing to know that there is no standard admission policy. Each university is autonomous in their exercise of authority and they are not accountable to any institution. Government and all stakeholders should setup a body or empower NUC to enforce the educational policies all stake holders have agreed on, including that of UTME. Until this is done, I believe UTME is JAMB in disguise.
We should not forget that the future of the country lies in the hand of the youths, besides, the quantity of their leadership depends largely on the quantity of education they acquire now.
The conclusion of the matter is that government should give us admission policy and enforce a body to implement it.
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